“I would remind you about the automatic navigation, but you would just ignore my advice. “We’re coming up into the twilight district, gotta watch for bridges. “Not even the best armor can stop physics,” Carter said. According to the medic, he pulled a tendon and will need rehabilitation before he can return to duty.” A member of my team tripped running up the stairs. Gotta shut down that mess too, especially if it’s a separate group. And if not, we still have an expedition to plan. “Well, maybe we can get some answers from our new guests. “There is definitely something going on here, something very wrong.” “Lots of shouting while they were setting up.” “They were pretty vocal before,” Carter said, thinking back to the seconds before the fighting started. Not one of them has said a word since they were captured.” “That is true, though I think there may be more to it than that. Threats of violence can’t compare to the promise of immediate disintegration for disloyalty.” “It does when you literally hold their lives in your hands. “Loyalty through fear does not work in the long term.” If he had the same kind of leverage on them as on his assassin, that’d explain the loyalty.” “Yeah, looked like he had a good number of them augmented. ![]() “Nothing that we could not handle,” Talsin said, “though there were several people in here who took several shots to subdue.” “How’s the cleanup going, captain?” he called out over their channel. ![]() Carter climbed back into the cruiser and followed them up through the darkness. Once the panels were in place, the space was suffused with a dim blue glow, and the hauler lifted off. They sealed closed the back of the hauler, the field emitters making a humming sound as the sides folded up and over, completely enclosing the cargo space. Let’s get this back to the precinct then. “Because you’d need enough field emitters to surround the thing, and the generator for it is the size of your cruiser.” “And I couldn’t use that field to catch him, why?” With the field in the back turned on, he’s not going anywhere right now.” “So, think we can convince him to come out, or should I get a can opener?” he asked, as they finished securing the vehicle. As the winch retracted, he set the cruiser down and walked up to the hauler. The officers on the ground signaled a lock, and Carter released the clamp. Lowering his catch into the heavy cargo hauler felt a lot like putting his fish on ice the anticipation of a bite, the thrill and adrenaline of the fight, and the satisfaction of a successful catch. He’d caught a fish that had barely fit into the small cooler they’d brought with them. He had gone fishing with his grandfather, at a lake about an hour north from his home in Baltimore. As it locked into place, a memory flashed through his mind, from a summer when he was a child. ![]() Carter lowered the pursuit cruiser, slowly setting his catch into the containment bed of the recovery vehicle.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |